Seed No.19 Nadia Petrova crushed former world No.1 Kim Clijsters in the third round and her new attitude towards tennis is still proving to be fruitful as she has now knocked out third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.

On the same court where she scored a ruthless 6-0 6-1 victory over Clijsters, Petrova defeated French Open champion Kuznetsova 6-3 3-6 6-1 to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals.

"When I played Kim, before going on court, I said, 'it's all or nothing, I gotta to give everything' (and) I did," said world No.19 Petrova.

"Same thing happened today. If I can continue doing this, I can get even further."

Petrova’s next opponent will be seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin, who advanced to the last eight despite sustaining an ankle injury in the third set of her fourth-round match against fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer. Henin defeated Petrova in 12 of their 14 encounters, including their meeting at the Brisbane International this season. However, Petrova is very likely to test Henin’s physical readiness. (photo via Australian Open)

World No.35 Zheng Jie was the first player to reach the 2010 Australian Open quarterfinals after a 7-6(5) 6-4 upset of seed No.31 Alona Bondarenko.

Zheng has now become the first Chinese ever to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, while two years ago at Wimbledon she became the first player from her country to reach semifinals of a Grand Slam event.

"I feel tennis is going up very quickly in China," said Zheng who played a large role in raising the popularity of the sport in her country. "We have a good tournament, the China Open, and you can see lots of the newspapers talking about tennis much more now. We have more top players now too."

Zheng will face Russian Maria Kirilenko in the quarterfinals. (photo via Australian Open)

Defending champion Serena Williams beat Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0 6-3 to advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open. Let me remind you that the Spaniard knocked out Serena’s elder sister Venus at last year’s Australian Open, in the second round already. This year, the top-seeded Serena avenged her sister’s defeat, won the first five games of the match in just 15 minutes, then the long sixth game in 19 minutes, before routinely taking the second set.

Venus Williams took out home favorite Casey Dellacqua 6-1 7-6(4) in the third round. The sixth-seeded Williams was pushed to play a second-set tiebreak, and her opponent even fought off three match points before finally losing to the seven-time Grand Slam champion.

Serena will next meet Australian 13th seed Samantha Stosur, and Venus will play seed No.17 Francesca Schiavone of Italy. (photo via Australian Open)

Former world No.1 Kim Clijsters suffered the worst loss of both of her careers which featured 555 matches, losing to seed No.19 Nadia Petrova 6-0 6-1 in the third round of the Australian Open in just 52 minutes.

The 15th-seeded Clijsters, who won the US Open last season and the Brisbane International just before coming to the Australian Open, scored only five points in the first set and made 17 unforced errors.

The Belgian couldn’t find her game throughout the match:

The way I played today, I was completely off and I didn't feel the ball at all. She was good, but she really didn't have to do much. She served really well and was aggressive, but that's because I let her play into the court.

Before this one, Clijsters’ worst defeat came nine years ago in Miami when she lost to Serena Williams 6-0 6-2. (photo via Australian Open)

Jelena Jankovic followed her countrywoman Ana Ivanovic out of the Australian Open, losing to Ukrainian seed No.31 Alona Bondarenko 6-2 6-3 in the third round.

The eighth-seeded Jankovic became the second highest women’s seed to be knocked out of the tournament, after seed No.5 Elena Dementieva lost in the second round . The Serb committed forty unforced errors and lost to Bondarenko for the first time in 10 encounters. Previously, Jankovic had lost just one set to Bondarenko in nine meetings.

The world No.30 Bondarenko has now reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time.

I came across this funny interview with Serena’s and Venus’s mother Oracene Price, who talks about how she’s had enough of the tennis life and its repetitiveness. She really opened up to the reporter and even revealed why she wears sunglasses at tennis matches (I’m sure you can already guess the reason).

Troubles are still there for Ana Ivanovic. We celebrated her first-round victory at the 2010 Australian Open, but that was the last reason Ana gave us to celebrate as she lost in the very next round of the tournament. What makes it acceptable is that she was defeated by 36th-ranked Gisela Dulko, but still, Ana’s record against the Argentinean used to be 2-0.

Ivanovic’s slump started a long time ago, just after she won her maiden Grand Slam title and became No.1 in 2008. Since that time, Ivanovic hasn’t gone further than the fourth round in a Grand Slam and is ranked 21st now.

The Serb struggled with serving in the match against Dulko and the Argentinean won despite almost blowing a 5-1 lead in the third set. Dulko clinched a 6-7(6) 7-5 6-4 victory on her sixth match point.

Despite this disappointing loss, Ivanovic feels her game has improved: "It's hard. It hurts, I must say. For sure it will, but it's a process. I do feel better on the court. I'm playing much better. I feel like my old self."

Also, Ivanovic tried to explain why she has problems with ball toss: "I think what happens when my ball toss gets away from me, it's when I rush a little bit. It just gets away from me because I hold the ball so tight instead of just relaxing." (sources: BBC, ESPN, photo via Australian Open)

Justine Henin’s comeback is in full speed. The Belgian, a wildcard at the 2010 Australian Open, knocked out fifth seed Elena Dementieva 7-5 7-6(6) in the second round.

Currently unranked Henin saved two set points in the first set, broke Dementieva’s serve at 5-5, and then held serve to take the set 7-5. The Russian responded by taking a 2-0 lead in the following set, but Henin leveled. Dementieva was having a lead again later, 4-2, but Henin then won three consecutive games and served for the match. Still, Dementieva leveled at 5-5, and a tiebreaker was played since none of them managed to hold serve. Henin won the tiebreak 8-6 and the match was over in a little less than three hours.

The 27-year-old Henin will play another Russian in her next match, seed No.27 Alisa Kleybanova.

Henin already possesses seven Grand Slam titles, including the 2004 Australian Open, while Dementieva has to wait to get another chance to win her first one. (photo: Getty Images)

Some time ago – ok, a long time ago – this was not a reason to celebrate, but now we should mention that both Serbian women’s tennis stars Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic passed their first-round matches at the Australian Open.

The 20th-seeded Ivanovic scored an easy and confidence-boosting 6-2 6-3 victory over American Shenay Perry. Remember, at her last Grand Slam appearance, which was the 2009 US Open, Ivanovic lost in the opening round.

Jankovic, the eighth seed, saw off Romania's Monica Niculescu 6-4 6-0 in the first round. This year Jankovic is under much less pressure than last time when she entered the Australian Open ranked No.1. Other players are in focus now, such as for example comeback stars Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters. Jankovic could maybe use that to improve on her last year’s fourth round exit.

Ivanovic’s opponent in the second round will be world No.36 Gisela Dulko, while Jankovic will face 87th-ranked Katie O’Brien. (photo: Getty Images)

Top seed Serena Williams lost just three games to advance to the second round of the Australian Open, the tournament she won last year in both singles and doubles. The four-time Australian Open champion defeated Poland's world No.72 Urszula Radwanska 6-2 6-1 and will next play Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.

Serena’s sister Venus beat Czech Lucie Safarova 6-2 6-2 to advance to the second round. The sixth-seeded Williams will try to improve on her last year’s result, when she was upset in the second round by Carla Suarez Navarro. Venus' opponent in the next round will be Austrian Sybille Bammer.

The sisters will again team up for the doubles competition. (photo: Getty Images)